I'd Like to Introduce...

Hey everyone, it's Danielle with Quoddy Link Marine with some great news! Last season we had 6 whales (out of 10 total that we confirmed) who needed to be named. 5 of the 6 were unknowns, this means that they were not sighted as a calf, and this was the first time they were photographed. The 6th whale was the 2007 calf of Six. Now, 5 of the 6, all the whales but the young calf now have names, well, almost. I got to be a part of the whale naming even again this year (names get suggested and then voted on by naturalists and researchers) and so far, 5 of my names have been chosen, maybe more after the voting is done. A quick explanation, whales are named for the pigmentation on the underside of the fluke (sometime for the unique shape of the jagged trailing edge). Names must NOT be gender specific, the can only be used once and they should be short. So, now, I would like to introduce...

This very special whale is no longer an unknown, this is Campobello. I had the privilege to name this whale and I am so happy that others voted for Campobello as well. Campobello was chosen for the black shape on the left fluke that resembles an island. I wanted this name for more than that reason....Mackie Greene and the Campobello Whale Rescue Team saved this whale from a life-threatening entanglement in December of 2007. I really hope we get to see Campobello this coming summer.




This young whale has been named Meristem. The reason given was "for the lines that are like the offshoots of new stems, production of such is in the meristem". I am assuming it's for the black line around the center of the fluke on both sides.










This young whale has been named Inlet. The reason given was "The lines on the RF (right fluke) look like the opening to a harbor or inlet and the small black line looks like a boat heading towards it."











This whale was given the name Exacto and the reason given was "straight line on left looks like exacto knife".













This whale I need your help with. This was the first humpback whale that we saw in our 2008 season and after the 2 week voting process we have a tie! The 2 names up are Winner ("The white line on lower right center looks a bit like an Oscar") and Flicker ("White mark in center looks like a candle with a flame"). Let me know what you think and I will vote that way. I need to know by April 8th!








Well, those are the 5 whales that we saw during the 2008 season but I also wanted to share with you the whales that I got to name (other than Campobello, of course). These whales were seen in the southern Gulf of Maine.




This whale has been named Pivot because of "On the RF (right fluke), the black lines look like a metal compass. A compass has one end for a pencil/pen and the other end has a point , the compass would pivot at that point."









This unknown's name is now Syrinx because "On the LF (left fluke), trailing edge, the white marks look like a panflute. Another word for
panflute is Syrinx, from greek mythology for the Greek God Pan."











And this whale is now Causeway, "On the lower section of the RF (right fluke), the bridge like shape looks like a causeway bridge".












This whale is now Lightbulb, "white mark on RF (right fluke) that looks like a lightbulb".











This whale's voting is still up for naming because of a tie. My name of Excavate ("On the lower LF (left fluke), the black part looks like a burrow being dug out") is in the running!










The 2008 Gulf of Maine Humpback Naming Event isn't over yet. All of the previously sighted calves, icluding Six's 2007 calf (below) still have to be named. Check back soon and I will have some news for you one the tie-breaking votes and some new whale names.


Thanks for checking in!

Quoddy Link is now on Facebook and Twitter

Hey everyone, well, the 2009 season is very quickly approaching and I have some exciting internet news! Quoddy Link is now on Facebook and Twitter in addition to Blogger. I'm going to give some explanations on how these new sites will work.

I'm going to start with Facebook, as I am sure that most of you are very familiar with Facebook...it can be quite addictive if you haven't yet experienced it (I have to thank Jill for pushing me into Facebook). Facebook is officially defined as a "free-access social networking website". It's basically a place where you can connect with all of your friends (as far back as you are willing to look) and family by posting messages, photos and videos. There are games and much more but the social networking is really the basis of Facebook. What we have done (Thank You Catherine) is start an open group where anyone can post pictures and videos and share all of their stories from their time aboard the Quoddy Link. So come and visit our Facebook group and share your time with Quoddy Link.

OK, on to Twitter. Twitter has gained major following as of late and it's a really interesting idea to share some quick news will all of you. Twitter is officially defined as a "social-networking and micro-blogging service that enables its users to send and read other users' updates known as tweets". What we can do is share quick posts to let you know what we are seeing on our saily trips out into the Bay of Fundy. It will NOT take the place of this blog, and each post is only 140 characters or less, hence the name "micro-blog". It will be a great way to follow our daily sightings as you travel if you have a browser-capable mobile. Some visit our Twitter page (there will be more posts when the 2009 season begins) and become our "follower" and read our "tweets" (I'll try and get the Twitter lingo down).

We hope that these new website are a great way we can share our daily sightings with you but I am even more excited about you sharing your stories, photos and videos with us on Facebook


One last note, for those of you who have been following the 2009 Gulf of Maine Humpback Whale Naming Event the voting is scheduled to close on April 6th (may take long if there are any ties, I'm sure there will be). Naming is still in going on for the previously sighted calves, and we have one to name, Six's 2007 calf so if you have any names, let me know! I have posted a photo below of this young whale. Thanks again for checking in!

News of humpbacks off Cape Cod

Hey everyone, I just wanted to pass some news along, researchers have officially ID'ed 17 humpback whales off the coast of Massachusetts. It's a little early but it's great to hear reports from some summer feeding grounds. Last spring, Mustache, a young humpback who is very special to Quoddy Link was sighted off Stellwagen Bank....I'll keep you posted if Mustache, or any humpbacks we have seen in the past few years are sighted in the southern Gulf of Maine.

Whale sedated and rescued from a life-threatening entanglement....a scientific first!

A North Atlantic right whale was sedated and disentangled this past week off the coast of Georgia (first sighted on January 14/09, successfully rescued on March 6/09)). This is the first time that researchers have used sedation in the wild and after some smaller does of the sedative they got the right amount to calm and slow the whale down so they could approach and cut the ropes. The full story can be read on CNN and there is video and more photos as well.

This is a first for whale rescuers and is a major step in helping the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale. One of the greatest threats to the right whale is entanglement and there have been an alarming number of cases this past winter.











In this photo, the dart containing second dose of sedative has just been deployed. float designed to remove dart (by creating drag in water) is visible just off the vessel's port bow.


Disentanglement team cuts rope tightly wrapped over the whale's head. Cut releases ~ 150 feet of rope.

Approximately 230 feet of rope was just removed from the whale by the disentanglement team and the disentanglement team is floating around the rescue vessel.


On a very positive note, as of February 10th, 31 mother/calf were reported from the Southern United States caving grounds! The calf numbers are tied with the 2001 season for the highest number of mother/calf pairs!

Thanks for checking in and check back soon, in a few weeks I will have some new names to our 6 humpbacks from the past season!

It's almost that time of year again!

Hello all! It's Danielle with Quoddy Link Marine sending you an update all the way from Gatineau, QC. I hope that everyone had a safe and happy holiday season and welcomed the New Year with your friends and family.

Now, down to business and the reason for the update. It's that time of year again, the time for the North Atlantic Humpback Whale Naming Event 2009. It's just in the beginning stages and we have lots of time to think of some great names for the unknowns that we photographed in the 2008 season. The humpbacks below are those that are up for names (and, like I said, it is still in the beginning stages and these individuals still have a chance at being matched in the catalogue).

So how this works, if you are new to the blog, is that humpbacks are named based in the black and white pigmentation on the underside of their fluke. There are rules.....

- the name must be short
- it should be descriptive about the whale's fluke pattern, body scars or other identifiable feature
- it cannot be gender specific
- it cannot be a person's name
- it cannot duplicate another name on the list

I will give you a hint, researchers like to use the dominant, positive black pattern on the fluke as opposed to any negative white markings. Be creative and send me any suggestions!

This humpback was our first of the 2008 season, the 2 photos below are from the same individual.

























This young whale also needs a name and was also seen by Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies in the southern Gulf of Maine earlier in the season.


This is a baby and only a year old. This is the 2007 calf of Six, and because we saw and photographed this young whale it is now up for naming!


This young whale needs a great name...


And this young whale needs a great name


This is a very special whale that is also up for naming. This was was severely entangled and successfully disentangled (THANK YOU Mackie Greene and the Campobello Island Whale Rescue Team) in the Bay of Fundy off Grand Manan in December/07. Our sighting of this young whale was the first time "he" was seen since the entanglement and although he is still healing he is still swimming and that is more than we could ask for.


Thanks for checking in today. If you keep your eyes on any nature news you probably hear about the North Atlantic right whale sighting off Faial Island in the Azores. The whale was positively IDed as RW# 3270 who was last seen in the Bay of Fundy on September 24/08.

Thanks again for checking in! Please, if you are interested, send some suggestions for the names for the whales, you have a couple months but we need some great names for these whales!

EKG and a Save Passamaquoddy Bay Trip!

Hello everyone, it's Danielle with Quoddy Link Marine. This morning we did a special trip to support the effort to Save Passamaquoddy Bay. We took many locals of Charlotte County and some supporters from across the border out into Head Harbour Passage. This passage way is at the heart of a battle to prevent LNG tankers from entering Passamaquoddy Bay. Head Harbour Passage is such a vibrant and alive place, the strong tidal currents create upwelling, bringing the cold, nutrient rich water from the ocean floor to the surface which feeds the plankton, which feeds in the krill, which in turn feeds the herring and the herring feeds most of the predators including seals, porpoise, many seabirds and whales. In my 7 years with Quoddy Link Marine we have documented finback (including a mother and calf pair) and minke whales in Head Harbour Passage every summer and on a few very special occasions we have seen humpback and even a critically endangered North Atlantic right whale right up Head Harbour Passage! It is such an amazing place and thank you to all who joined this morning, your support is greatly appreciated!


Our afternoon trip was a regularly scheduled whale watch which turned out to be a Hat Trick! We saw EKG, a humpback whale we have been watching since 2006, 3 finback whales, all close to the entrance of Head Harbour Passage and a very young minke whale between White and Nubble Island. It was a great trip! Below is EKG, note the distinct upturned flukes.

Thanks for checking in today. Tomorrow is our last day, they are calling for some NE winds but I hope we can get out. Cheers!

Humpback, Finback and Minke Whales...All Still Here!!

Hello all, it's Danielle with Quoddy Link Marine, still whale watching and still seeing lots of whales. Today we went out in some crazy October fog but with a little help with the visibility we were able to find 2 humpback whales, EKG (left) and an unknown we also saw on October 11th. Both humpbacks were great to watch, this beautiful tail raise from EKG and the unknown whale did a few tail breaches and rolled over a few times and showed us "his" pectoral flippers (no photos of that...raining). On our way back we stopped with a few minke whales at the mouth of Head Harbour Passage and then we found a finback whale, between White and Nubble Island and we got to see a beautiful lunge feed! What an amazing trip....so much more than we could ever ask for at the middle of October. The other sightings are still great as well, there are so many bald eagles around as well as many species of seabirds. We are also seeing lots of seals, both grey (top) and harbour (bottom).



Thanks so much for checking in today, we have 3 departures left;

Friday, October 17th @ 10:00 am

Saturday, October 18th @ 2:30 pm

and

Sunday, October 19th @ 1:00 pm

Come and join us!! Cheers.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hello everyone, it's Danielle with Quoddy Link Marine with a quick update of today's sightings. We decided to have a whale watch this morning instead of this afternoon so we could give our guests enough time to have their turkey dinner!! We headed right offshore this morning and we passed some finbacks on our way out but when we got there we found EKG and the young humpback that was disentangled in December of 2007 off Grand Manan (pictured below). After we spent some time with the humpbacks (and got a very close look at EKG!) we made our way back towards the islands where we stopped with 4 finback whales. Our passengers were amazed at the size and power of the finback whales, the second largest whale in the world, and the ones we were watching were at least the length of the boat at 55 feet! There was also tonnes of birds this morning and we stopped at The Spectacles where we saw 7 bald eagles!

We still have a few more trips this week;

Tuesday, October 14th-Thursday, October 16th at 1:00 pm

Friday, October 17th at 10:00 am

Sunday, October 19th at 1:00 pm

Thanks for checking in today, Cheers!

Another Great Day on the Bay!

Hello there, it's Danielle with Quoddy Link Marine back from another amazing October day on the Bay of Fundy. With great weather again today we made our way directly offshore in search of humpback whales in the same area where we were yesterday. We found 5 individuals, 4 of which I got tail shots of to ID (we had Spinnaker, EKG, the December entanglement whale, as well as the unknown with the hooked dorsal). We had a very close look at EKG, the photo on the left shows "his" double blowhole and the tubercles (the bumps on the rostrum, each one has a thick hair growing out of it which serves a sensory function). On our way back to St. Andrews we stopped with 3 finback whales and a minke whale! The 2 photos below are Spinnaker (top) and the unknown whale with a hooked dorsal fin (below).




I also wanted to include this photo of EKG and Spinnaker travelling together. Baleen whales do not live in family groups but they can be social animals and form unstable groups which can last for a few minutes or even a few days.

Thanks for checking in today. We are going to be running whale watching trips all week, there are lots of whales around and we aren't quite ready to stop! Come and join us and see the Bay of Fundy with Quoddy Link Marine!!

I do LOVE my job!

Hello everyone, it's Danielle with Quoddy Link Marine with some amazing sightings to report. It's so hard to believe that it is the second week of October but with the first day in a few with calm seas we sent Matt out on our Scout Boat to see what he could find a little further from home. With a boat load of eager passengers we got a call from Matt that he had found at least 5-6 humpback whales and about the same number of fin whales all within about 1/4 mile of each other! Needless to say we made our way directly offshore towards our Scout Boat. We passed a few finback whales off the northern tip of Campobello Island but we had to put "blinders" on and continue offshore but it was well worth it! There were blows in every direction....both finback and humpback whales....at one point we had 5 humpback whales on the forward right hand side of the boat and a finback on the other, and then a finback surfaced so close to the boat that a few words that are usually not part of my interpretation came out! In my 7 years I don't remember seeing so many humpbacks and finbacks on one trip. Now to the details.....As I have mentioned before we photograph the humpback whales we see (humpbacks are IDed by the pigmentation of black and white on the underside of their flukes) and I was very busy today. I managed to get photos of 6 individual humpback whales (I am SURE I missed a few). 3 are ones I could identify, 2 are new (one of the new whales is pictured above left) and 1 is a familiar "face" from last season! The photo below is EKG.

This is Cork, a 6 year old female humpback.

This is one of the new humpbacks we saw today...also a familiar face (I'm almost positive, I have the photo into PCCS to be confirmed)...this is Spinnaker, a 4 year old female.

This is the other new humpback that I do not recognize.

We also saw the humpback that was disentangled in December/07 off Grand Manan. I have included a drawing of the entanglement (the entanglement was made worse as it happened during a winter storm). This whale has yet to be matched to a previously catalogued whale, if it cannot be matched it will be put up for naming next spring.

I wanted to leave you with a photo I took the other day of 2 minke whales travelling side-by-side, not something we see very often. Thanks for checking in today, I will keep you posted as I hear about the ID's of our new whales....and I hope to have more great sightings for you all tomorrow! Cheers.

Six Humpback Whales on Our 2:00 pm Departure!

Hello everyone, it's Danielle with Quoddy Link Marine with some great sightings to report. Today on our 2pm departure we sighted 6 individual humpback whales as well as 4 fin whales! Also, of those 6 humpbacks, 2 were new individuals to us. With word from Fundy Tide Runners, a fellow whale watching company out of St. Andrews that there were humpbacks in the same area where we were yesterday afternoon we made our way directly offshore, even passing 2 large fin whales on the way! The sea conditions were certainly not perfect but with some great passengers who were willing to hold on we spent about an hour and a half watching 6 humpbacks and 2 fin whales in the offshore area. There very well may have been more humpbacks around, there were many blows in all directions but I did photograph 6 individual humpbacks. The first one here is a new whale to us and I have sent the photos down to Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies to see if we can get a positive ID.

This is Cork, a 6 year old female humpback we are very familiar with at Quoddy Link Marine.

This is the humpback we saw for the first time yesterday that was seriously entangled last December and rescued by the Campobello Whale Rescue Team. Have a look at yesterdays post for more info.
Here is an unknown that we saw yesterday as well as on September 21st.

This is EKG, a young whale we have been watching since 2006.

This last whale is our 2nd new whale of the day. We never got to see the fluke so all I got was a shot of the dorsal fin but as the dorsal fin is different from whale to whale I do know this is a new individual for us! Hopefully we can get a tail shot and see who this is in the next few days.

Thanks for checking in today. I hope to have more great news for you over the next week. Cheers!